Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

New England Winter Postponed

By Will Leitch October 19, 2007 7:35 amOctober 19, 2007 7:35 am

About 94 seconds after his team had staved off elimination by beating the Cleveland Indians 7-1 in front of a suddenly sparse Jacobs Field crowd, Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis, the pride of Jewish Midwesterners everywhere, did his best to quell any tendencies toward mass suicide. This was awfully sweet of him.

Interviewed by Peter Gammons on ESPN Radio, Youkilis said (and I’m paraphrasing here), essentially, Our fans can come back from off the bridge now. Such are the extremes of the postseason. It’s not enough for fans to be sad if their team loses; a real fan realizes self-immolation is the only rational reaction to the cold winter that comes with defeat.

Last night, Josh Beckett helped put the razors and sleeping pills away, for a little while. Beckett is becoming a serious postseason legend, with four consecutive postseason wins and a general air of quiet, confident menace. If he could somehow figure out a way to bloody a piece of his equipment while clinching a Game 7 victory, his ridiculous soul patch goatee could replace the hated pink hats as the next Fenway Park fashion trend. And not only did his dominance secure at least one more day of New England baseball, he erased a wave of bad feeling that threatened to destroy everything his team had worked for all season.

It had been a stressful 40 hours in Red Sox Nation. Not only was the team on the precipice of seasonal extinction, but dingbat slugger Manny Ramirez had committed the one sin baseball fans cannot forgive: he’d implied that he didn’t care whether his team won or not.

When the gaggle of media folk talk about the integrity of baseball and the true threats to the great game, the usual suspects are gambling and steroids. But the average fan has, at this point, mostly made his or her peace with those.

Anyone who gambles on their sport is an anomaly to be dealt with fiercely. Anyone who doesn’t do steroids is a similar anomaly, to be dealt with by not being offered a multi-year contract. We’ve been through the wringer on both issues, and whatever our thoughts on the degrees of each offense, we accept them as mostly out of our control and just hope our favorite player isn’t involved. We can handle that type of scandal; the last decade has opened our eyes.

But Manny touched on a deeper, more sinister fear. We invest so much emotional capital in these games, hold them so close to our souls, that we imagine the players do the same, only more so. In the moment, we convince ourselves that our happiness, our very being, rests on every pitch. The people playing the games? Lord, they must have it so much worse; we care this much, and we’re just sitting on our couch. Can you envision actually being out there?

But this is not the way athletes react in the real world. An athlete — the integral part of the actual enterprise — cannot grip the experience as tightly as we do; he is far more aware of the limitations his game puts on him. He understands that no matter how hard you try, sometimes you lose. And that a loss does not send the world careening off its axis; the oceans do not fill with blood, and fault lines do not crack. The vast majority of professional baseball players never are blessed with a championship, and no one wins one every year. They nevertheless find a way to push on.

It is one thing to understand this in a theoretical sense, but it is another thing to clumsily stammer, “If we lose, who cares? It’s not the end of the world,” when your team is one game away from elimination.

Deep down, in a place no one wants to visit, all baseball fans fear they care more about their team than the players do. At the end of every day, Red Sox fans are still Red Sox fans, and all that comes with that; the team is their release and escape from whatever less glamorous activity they fill the working hours with. And at the end of every day, Manny Ramirez is a millionaire, and Johnny Damon can sign with the hated Yankees and not so much as blink. This is terrifying.

Maybe we do care more. What Manny Ramirez said does not make him a bad person, or somehow less of a competitor; it makes him a human being who, whether his team wins or loses, will still go home afterward and sleep in a gorgeous house. (And maybe use a hyperbaric chamber; I imagine Manny having a hyperbaric chamber.) Manny touched on an unspeakable truth and, if he doesn’t mind, I’d like to, in the most pleasant and cordial way possible, ask him never, ever to do that again.

Of course, if he hits three home runs in Game 6 on Saturday and leads the Red Sox back to the World Series, no one will care if he calls Johnny Pesky a low-down, shallow-pated, pusillanimous jackass while wearing Derek Jeter’s jersey. It sure beats mass suicide.

Professional sports is the ultimate suspension of disbelief. More than Broadway. More than the Beltway. Who cares if Hamlet procrastinates? Who cares if Dubya starts World War III? But Manny Ramirez better damn well care if Boston wins out and gets to the World Series. Who does he think he is having mortal thoughts about the consequences of failure? Sports (and the theater) is mesmerizing for the simple fact that we can live and die on every pitch or every blitz or every corner kick while knowing that the outcome is harrowing but not apocalyptic. Especially now that athletes get paid astronomical sums, we expect them to give over their lives to the sport. And they do. No athlete you see competing in the ALCS or the Super Bowl or the World Cup quit his insurance job two years ago to give pro sports a try. These athletes compete and practice from the time they are teens. Tiger Woods was swinging a golf club at age four.

But this is not your grandfather’s baseball team. With free agency, the player became more or less his own boss. And that is better than George Steinbrenner owning horse flesh but the consequence is that teams no longer keep their unique character. Johnny Damon can suffer the booing fans in Fenway and cash his Yankees check just the same.

Oh, and I do care that Fumbling George keeps his finger off the red button. Too nice world to see it covered in hot ash.

Manny is Manny. No Red Sox fan cares if he raises his hands and dances while running the bases. He is one of baseball’s greatest hitters.
There is alot of whining from Yankee fans that one detects in all the complaints about Ramirez.I am still amazed he is giving interviews. It is all good for baseball!

Manny was roundly misinterpreted by all. He did not say he did not want to win the series. He said that no one would be killed or injured from a loss, and that the world would continue, the earth rotating, etc. His performance last night clearly indicated he would give his best inall the games, as he always does. Manny was trying to be philisophical and no one got that point. You play your best, you try your hardest, but sometimes you still can’t win. And, when you do not, the world goes on.

What is so unacceptable about Manny Ramirez’s actions? The man has been effective at getting on base and producing runs. Maybe what is percieved as an uncaring attitude is an ability to mentally dissociate in order to stay loose. What would you rather have–a cheerleader who can’t get on base or a seemingly dimwitted free spirit who just produces? I find Manny’s attitude somewhat refreshing and admirable. I wish I could be like that in my job.

Speaking of fans, what’s with the towels? You would never see New York or Boston fans waiving hankies en masse. Cleveland fans are clearly knowledge about the game and plenty loud; the towels are just silly.

It is a common misconception by sports fans that because athletes have amazing physical skills that they have some innate wisdom regarding sports and non-sports issues. In reality the development of their physical skills is probably at some expense of their mental skills and development.

Manny was correct in what he was probably trying to state. Unfortunately the articulation of his ideas was poor.

As a Clevelander, I’d like to say: Welcome to Manny-ville. Manny was ours once, you know, during the first incarnation of the Indians revival. My seats at Jacobs Field were right above the right field wall, and I had a great view of him out there. He was our little ADD case: he’d scrutinize the back of his glove as if he were reading tea leaves, move the grass around with his toe, find something incredibly interesting on the wall in the corner of the field, watch the sky for birds. In short, it was easy to see that the game just wasn’t all that interesting to him. His mind was elsewhere. And yet, he still managed to make a decent number of catches out there (though there would have been more if he’d been paying attention), and he hit so well that most of the city would have ponied up if the Indians had decided to take up a collection to pay the outrageous amount of money it would have taken to keep him. But we knew that even if we loved him, it wasn’t us, or even the game, that he loved. It’s a job to him, and one he’s very good at. The salary is adequate inducement to remain in spite of his lack of passion. So, it’s a mistake to get attached. If the Sox lose (please, God, we’ve suffered enough!), or even if they don’t, and somebody offers him more, don’t be surprised if he takes it. That’s just good business after all. And don’t worry too much, Sox fans. We Indians partisans are expecting them to do what they usually do: break our hearts at the last minute, though we’ll be hoping until the final out that they won’t.

He can do whatever he wants in my mind. That home run he hit in game 4 was HUGE (3 in a row) too bad Lugo and Coco can’t hit, Jacoby better be in center on Saturday. I thought last nights 309′ single was gone too. How can you blame him, he has tender hammy’s.

DEADSPIN Rocks keep up the good work…Can you help me track down Fausto’s 8th grade girlfriend to sing at Fenway?

give me a break. as a red sox fan, i think manny’s comments were refreshing. it’s actually nice to hear someone involved take the pressure off his teammates, and combat the media’s characterization of him and baseball. it’s not red sox fans, it’s the media that finds these comments to be anathema, because they don’t understand how to market the complexity of a human being, they don’t want to do anything other than repeat “win or go home” and “there’s only one october!” enough. manny is a trickster. not your darling robot.

I personally think Manny’s comments weren’t given nearly enough credit here – it’s the sportswriters and the media that blow all of this out of proportion.

As a pretty die hard Yanks fan myself, I was upset when the Yanks lost. But in the end, it is the journey every year that is entertaining – and it’s the fact that we can have something to do over the course of the season on a Tuesday night (a night when almost everyone is on their couch).

But Manny’s right – it’s not the end of the world. The sports media needs to wake up and look at the state of our nation with regards to foreign affairs, the war, disease, famine, obesity, etc. Those are things that are life and death. Baseball is a game, our national past-time, but not life or death.

If it’s life or death to anyone reading this, it’s high time for you to get out into the real world and live through experience, not vicariously through a team that you love (which is so subjectively based on where your parents birthed you).

If I was unlucky enough to one of our troops patrolling dangerous neighborhoods in Iraq do you think I’d stick together with my fellow troops who were Red Sox fans? You bet your *ss.

What Manny said or what he meant to say and what Mr. Leitch touches on is that the Sport in he US is the new “opiate” for dulling the senses of the masses.

Let me ask you this question spots fans. Which question is more important? What is the current death count for US Soldiers in Iraq? Or which QB should you start against Peyton Manning this weekend in your fantasy football.

Manny is right: win or lose he has a real life that is more important and after all BoSox fans there is always next year. What about the 2838 dead US soldiers, what do their families have today?

If you were to read the entire interview, you’d see that he most definitely doesn;t “not care.” Whether its the sloppy use of colloquial talk in a second language or something else, who knows.
As for respecting the game….Please. Go take your “Guardians of All that is Good” somewhere else. Given the number of drunks, fools, racists, cheaters and assorted miscreants that have played baseball, a guy who simply goes out and plays (and according to everyone who has ever played with him, works his ass off) is doing nothing *but* respecting the game.

…give the guy a break. Players have to distance themselves from the game to a certain extent, otherwise, when things go really bad, they can end up in a downward spiral with no way back out. That said, if you want to see real passion in a game, have a look at the ’72 hockey series between Canada and Russia.

I am so glad this series is going back to Boston where we can finish it in front of fans who don’t wear fake feathers and don’t beat fake drums and behave in disgraceful ways that went out of style 50 years ago. Cleveland fans, think for once, just once, about people for whom ceremonial dress and drumming are an essential part of their religion, of holy ceremonies. How do you think they feel watching you at a game? Its one of the most appalling displays left in American public life.

Boston fans–like all fans–can be boors, but they are fundamentally respectful of cultural differences. Cleveland has a lot to learn. You don’t deserve a baseball team this good.

I “USE” to be an avid Red Sox fan. The emphasis on “use to be” is because I am no longer a sports fan. I am 73 years old and in the forties, when I was a youngster, the Red Sox were my whole life. I use to listen to them on radio (no TV then) and knew everyone on the team because the players seemed to play for one team forever – it was great! I still remember the lineup: catcher – Berdie Tebbits; 3rd base – Johnny Pesky; 2nd base -Bobby Dorr; short stop – Vern Stephens; right field -Al Zarilla(SP); center field -Dom Dimagio; and of course the great Ted Williams in left field – those were the days. Even though they didn’t win like (since 1918) they were great because they played their heart out. I remember when they played the Cleveland Indians in 1948 (and lost) or the Yankees in 1949 (and lost) we were loyal fans and the players also were loyal to the team. However, when baseball went on STRIKE in the 90’s that was the last straw and I haven’t listened or watched a game since. Why? Because of what the article above indicated – there is no loyalty by the players and it is “All About Money” PERIOD.

As a Cleveland fan I’ll say this-Manny is one of the most pure hitters I have ever seen. His comments were refreshing and not malicious-he’s got the right attitude. And Beckett’s performance last night? Holy mackeral, what a pitcher. My hat, if I wore one, off to him.

Manny is a character – and it’s okay to have guys like him in sports. I love a player who speaks his mind – he is human after all, and if they do lose, it tryly is okay. The world won’t end. It’s the media who has a field day twisting his comments into a belief that he doesn’t care. Do they watch him hit? He definitely cares. Yeah, so he rarely torques down first base line. And maybe he’s not the swiftest outfielder. Yet, if he doesn’t deliver, he won’t be playing. Just let Manny be Manny. He’s refreshing.

What's Next

About

Fair and Foul writer Will Leitch is the author of "Life As a Loser" and "Catch", is the editor of the sports Web site Deadspin.com, and is a regular contributor to Play Magazine. His next book, "God Save the Fan," will be released by HarperCollins in January.